Punjab’s bid to modify HC’s May 6 order on releasing water to Haryana from Bhakra Dams was dismissed. The court said Punjab can still refer the matter to the central government.
Chandigarh: In a significant development concerning the long-standing water-sharing issue between Punjab and Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed the Punjab government’s plea seeking to recall or modify the court’s earlier order dated May 6.
That order had directed Punjab to comply with the decision taken on May 2, during a meeting chaired by the Union Home Secretary, where it was resolved that Punjab would release additional water to Haryana from the Bhakra Dams.
The Punjab government had approached the High Court claiming that the May 6 order was based on “concealment of material facts” by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
Punjab argued that any major policy decision or an issue that affects the rights of a state should first be referred to the central government through the Chairman of the Board.
According to Punjab, this step was not followed, as required under Rule 7 of the BBMB Rules, 1974.
The state contended that a letter had already been sent to the Government of India, and without waiting for any response or adjudication by the competent authority, the BBMB had gone ahead and convened another meeting on April 30.
In that meeting, the Board decided to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana—despite no decision being taken by the central government. Punjab considered this action invalid and sought judicial relief.
However, the High Court rejected this plea, stating that Punjab was not left without any legal remedy and could still approach the central government.
The court said:
“The state of Punjab is not left remediless, since it can always make a reference to the central govt in terms of Explanation – II to Rule 7 of 1974 Rules as per law…”
The High Court also addressed Punjab’s argument that BBMB was not competent to decide the issue since Haryana had already referred the matter to the central government through a letter dated April 29.
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The court clarified that the letter in question did not contain any disagreement or objection by Haryana but merely requested the BBMB chairman to escalate the matter for implementation of the technical committee’s minutes from April 28.
The court stated:
“The letter dated April 29 does not relate to any dissent by Haryana but contains a request to the chairman of BBMB to refer the matter to the central govt for execution of the minutes of the meeting dated April 28 of the technical committee of the board.”
Therefore, the court concluded that this communication by Haryana could not be considered a formal reference to the central government.
“As such, this letter cannot be treated as a reference to the central govt. Consequently, Haryana’s letter dated April 29 does not fall within the realm of ‘material fact’, non-disclosure of which is hence inconsequential,”
the High Court held in its detailed judgment released on Saturday.
Punjab had also contended that there was no formal record or existence of minutes from the May 2 meeting, chaired by the Union Home Secretary, and hence the direction issued based on that meeting was questionable.
But the High Court rejected this point as well, saying:
“Since it was not a reference in terms of Explanation – II to Rule 7 of 1974 Rules, the very foundation for raising the said ground does not exist, and it is of no avail to Punjab.”
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